Sold To The Alpha
A Lost Princess Chapter 25

Waking the next day, the three men quickly showered and pulled on their clothes before making their way downstairs, Clarissa greeting them in the dining room, dark circles under her eyes giving away her lack of sleep after they had all retired in the early hours of the morning. Ushering the trio into seats around a small round table she hurried into the kitchen and returned with a large tea pot, three mug, a bowl of sugar and a small jug of cream which she placed in the middle before clearing her throat. 'Umm, can I get you boys some breakfast?' she asked nervously, 'I make a mean fry up' she added hopefully.

Nodding enthusiastically, Daniel gave a thumbs up replying, 'girl, you just won over our hearts, nothing we will not do for a fried breakfast'

Laughing despite herself, Clarissa hurried into the kitchen, and the sound of pans were soon heard hitting the stove. Twenty minutes later she returned with three plates, piled high with sausages, bacon, eggs, hash browns, mushrooms and beans along with a huge plate full of toast that was smothered in butter.

Grabbing the plates, Sebastian and the warriors quickly dived in talking among themselves as Clarissa watched them hesitantly from the kitchen door. Halfway through the sound of banging on the front door interrupted them, fearfully, Clarissa scurried from the room, the sound of the bolt drawing back echoed through the silent room before a loud angry voice burst out, 'So it is true! You did renege on the agreement! Do you know what you have done? Valdar has issued an ultimatum, he wants you AND another tonight or he kills the entire town, your selfishness an cowardice just cost another person their life' the voice roared.

Edging her way back into the room, Clarissa stuttered, unable to make a coherent sentence as a large overweight man in a plaid waistcoat and tailored trousers followed her in, poking at her chest.

Standing up, Riley grabbed his hand, tightening his grip as he growled into the other man's startled face, 'I'd stop that if I were you' he uttered softly.

Looking around and spotting the other two men seated at the table, the large man paled slightly before blustering, 'Unhand me sir! I am the Mayor of this town! I don't know who you people are, but this is not your concern'.

Keeping his fingers wrapped around the other man's wrist, Riley replied, 'It is my business when you are manhandling an innocent woman in front of me, she has had a traumatic night sir I will not be standing by and watching you make her morning unbearable as well.

Finding her voice finally Clarissa squeaked, 'I did leave my window open Robert, I did!'

Riley nodded his head in agreement, 'Yes she did, and when that dirty little Vamp tried to take her, I interfered.

Staring at the warrior shocked, Roberts mouth opened and shut repeatedly, no sound coming out. Spluttering he finally croaked out, 'you stopped the Vampire from taking Clarissa?'

'Yes I did, and I will do so again if he returns' Riley replied simply.

'No! You can't, you must let him take her' Robert said panicking, 'please, you don't understand!'

'I understand perfectly' Riley replied airily, 'You have a greedy little Vamp residing in your town, and he's forcing you to feed him or he'll wipe out your town, did I miss anything?' he asked, raising his eyebrow, a careless expression on his face.

'Well if you understand our predicament why did you stop him, why would you place our town in danger?' Robert asked, anger starting to build in his voice.

'Because I'm going to kill him' said Riley, as if he was talking about the upcoming weather.

Shaking his head, Robert gave a hollow laugh, 'the last group of people to say that ended up drained of their blood in the town square'

Meeting the man's gaze with his own, Riley leaned forward conspiratorially, 'yes, but were any of those men Werewolves?' he asked quietly.

Disbelievingly Robert continued to chuckle, a hoarse, noise that gave away his fear, 'don't be insane, of course not, there are no such things as Werewolves' he muttered.

Riley gave him an incredulous look as he released his arm, 'so you are telling me that you believe in Vampires but cannot comprehend a world that contains Werewolves?' he asked before giving Daniel a nod, who scraped back his chair, stripped off his clothes in front of the horrified Mayor and shifting into his wolf, towering over the table as the older man let out a scream of terror and tried to back away from the beast that had appeared, slamming into the wall behind him as he whimpered fearfully his eyes darting around for an escape route.

Shifting back, Daniel donned his clothes and sat back down, picking up his fork nonchalantly and continuing to eat his food, Sebastian sat across from him, grinned widely as he did the same.

Returning his gaze to the ashen faced mayor, Riley gave him an inquiring look, 'any other questions sir?' he asked simply before giving Clarissa a small smile as he sat back down and returned to his conversation with his friends, tuning out the babbling man who was being helped from the room by the smiling B&B owner.

Returning as the boys were finishing up she smiled down at them before saying, 'thank you all, the mayor is going to allow you to try and stop Valdar, I don't think he had any choice in the matter but he tried to save face by agreeing to it' she giggled. Smiling back at the young girl, Riley rose from his chair, taking her hand in his, 'We are going to sort out this Vamp for you, most of them know their place, but you sometimes get a bold one who replaces a town like yours that has no protection. Paling slightly Clarissa whispered, 'there are more of them out there?'

Chuckling darkly Riley nodded, 'loads but contrary to what Valdar has told you, they don't need to kill their prey, most will take what they need and leave their victim to heal, others feed off animals instead, but sometimes you get a Vamp who see's an opportunity to sate the lust and exploits it. We just need to remind his kind that this is an unacceptable concept. Trust me, after we have finished, the Vamp community will learn about what happened and reign their kind in.'

Nodding uncertainly, Clarissa collected up the plates and returned them too the kitchen whilst the three lads went upstairs to collect their belongings, returning to the hallway to pay for their lodgings.

As Daniel pulled out his wallet, Clarissa raised her hand preemptively, shaking her head, 'no charge boys, you saved me last night and are taking a huge risk for my town. You can always leave your things here, you are welcome to come back and stay here again tonight' she added with a strained smile, 'I wouldn't mind the company'

Giving a smile of agreement, Riley indicated to Daniel to take their things back upstairs, the Beta obliging, returning with one small rucksack that he had packed a couple of pairs of shorts into. Leading the way out of the bed and breakfast, Riley set off toward the edge of the town, slipping quietly into the trees.

Nodding toward Daniel, the two waited as the warrior stripped again and shifted into his wolf, his nose to the ground as he wandered around trying to replace a scent. Bundling his clothes up, Riley tied them carefully and placed them inside the back pack, slinging it on to his back as Daniel lifted his head and pointed his snout to the East.

Following the blonde Wolf who continued to track the Vampire scent, they took care to remain in within the thick foliage of the tree, despite it being daytime so Valdar would be confined to his home, they were not sure if he had any allies who may alert him of their approach.

Creeping through the trees, the two men could see they were getting closer to the Vampire's residence, Daniel's ears had flattened against his head and his teeth were bared, his face pulled into a look of disgust from the vile stench he was following. Suddenly as they stepped through the thinning tree line, Daniel's hackles went up as the Wolf growled in a low and dangerous tone, prowling forward, his eyes fixated on something the two men couldn't see. 'What's wrong with him?' Sebastian muttered as the Wolf continued to stalk the invisible issue.

'Not sure' Riley replied quietly, 'but something isn't right, stay at the back, you might want to get out some weapons just in case though' he added as Sebastian nodded and pulled out a large knife, holding it tightly in his hand.

Following closely behind the skittish wolf, the pair ground to a halt as Daniel froze in place, his nose twitching as he focused on the mysterious problem. Stepping forward carefully, Riley edged around the angry Beta, dropping slowly to his knees as he gently brushed away the dirt, growling angrily as the top of a land mine came into view.

'Bastard knew we would come looking for him' Riley muttered, 'I'll bet you a week of breakfasts that this contains silver shrapnel to try and take us out. Bit of a sloppy attempt to be fair as Daniel had the scent before we even stepped out of the woods, but it shows he's prepared himself for our arrival, we need to keep our wits about us.

Stepping back as Daniel sniffed around, zeroing in on each of the land mines buried in the entrance to where the Vampire was hiding, Riley and Sebastian carefully brushed the dirt off each one revealing them, before marking them with sticks so that should they need to make a quick exit they would not stumble upon them by accident.

Placing their feet gently between the booby traps, the three continued forward, Daniel leading as he scouted the area for further defence strategies. Walking up the weed strewn dirt path, Sebastian and Riley kept their eyes on the surrounding woodlands, keeping close to Daniel who was picking his route determinedly, muscles tensed in case of attack.

'Maybe you should hand me that ruck sack' Sebastian muttered his eyes flicking over the shadows between the leaves, 'just in case you need to shift in a hurry!

Nodding silently, Riley dropped the bag from his shoulder and handed it over, removing his jacket as well, which Sebastian shoved into the bag's opening, leaving himself in just his t shirt a jeans.

'I don't want to wreck my jacket' he said with a forced grin, 'Bella gave it too me and she will kick my a*s if I rip it to shreds shifting!

Returning the young warriors strained smile, Sebastian hoisted the bag onto his back and the trio continued down the trail that seemed to be herding them into the unknown.